When wielded, the Sceptre confers magic resistance, and you get +d5 to hit and deal double damage against monsters with alignment different than the Sceptre. Invoking the Sceptre toggles conflict on or off. Conflict confered by the Sceptre does not cause the usual hunger. Dropping it also turns conflict off, without wasting an #invoke.

The magic resistance, damage bonuses, and toggleable conflict make the Sceptre a good wish for lawful non-Cavemen, especially in the early game.

The Sceptre of Might, thanks to its doubled damage, is one of the best weapons in the game versus cross-aligned monsters. Since most monsters in the game are either neutral or chaotic, for lawful characters the Sceptre is a great weapon, comparable even with a similarly enchanted Grayswandir against most non-silver hating monsters. As your Quest artifact is always co-aligned, however, for neutralcavepeople the Sceptre is a much weaker artifact.

If you cause conflict with the Sceptre of Might on the Astral Plane it has the same negative effects as wearing a ring of conflict (angering the guardian angel or receiving none at all), even considering it's the caveman's quest artifact.

Note that the Sceptre of Might is not gifted by your god, so it is not automatically corrodeproof. Therefore, it may be advisable to corrodeproof it.

History

Prior to v3.6.0, the Sceptre of Might conferred magic resistance when carried in addition to when wielded.

SLASH'EM

The Sceptre of Might does significantly less damage in Slash'EM. Its to-hit bonus has been reduced to a set +3, and it does an additional 5 points of damage versus cross-aligned creatures instead of double damage.[1]

Encyclopedia entry

This mace was created aeons ago in some unknown cave,
and has been passed down from generation to generation of
cave dwellers. It is a very mighty mace indeed, and in
addition will protect anyone who wields it from magic
missile attacks. When invoked, it causes conflict in the
area around it.